Who Is the Liar, Who Is the Fool?
by Lisa Telramor
Summary: In her room is a file about Kaitou Kid that Aoko will never show anyone.


_AN: For the Prompt: Any(/any), any(/any), I know you fooled me_

 _A million times_

 _I just can't help it_

 _Don't know why_

 _(Lene Marlin, The Way We Are)_

 _I liked the prompt enough that I wrote two fills for it. The other is Shinichi and Ran and equally unhealthy in its take on their relationship. Because they ARE very unhealthy relationships._

~O~O~O~O~

In a folder tucked away under old notebooks and classwork and a photo album that has all the pictures Aoko owns of her mother and father and her together, is a compilation of Evidence. First and foremost in it is a collection of Kaitou Kid's records starting from his first appearance to the first few heists since his return, all copied from the police files when Tou-san left the file unsupervised at home. All subsequent heists are her own notes and observations and secondhand accounts from people she knows when it was a heist she didn't attend. Under that was a comparison: Kid the First and Kid the Second, because it was pretty clear that they weren't the same person and even Tou-san knew that, he just didn't want to believe it. Kid the First was more skilled, well-traveled, and all around more seasoned. Kid the Second was at times clumsy, underprepared, and overconfident. Hakuba Saguru's DNA and mental profiling (also taken from one of Tou-san's files—he really shouldn't have brought them home) matched up with this list by pointing out that Kid the Second was a teenager. What teenager wasn't a little clumsy and overconfident?

There was overlap between the Kids, skills that they both shared, techniques that they both favored, but the skill gap was too large. Kid the Second came across as an apprentice that never finished his education.

Beneath everything about Kid was everything Aoko had about Kaito made up into a comparison with Kid.

It hadn't taken Hakuba's accusations to make her suspicious, but it had taken until then for her to sit down and compare facts. While Hakuba kept right on proclaiming to anyone who would listen that Kaito was Kid, Aoko took a step back, arranged her own scenario to prove Kaito wasn't Kid despite all evidence to the contrary, and felt…disappointed when Kaito thought he had her fooled.

People forgot she was smarter than she acted. She'd thought Kaito knew better. How often had he used that dummy trick on her over the years? Sure, it still surprised her, but that didn't mean she didn't notice when Kaito used it.

As for the time Hakuba handcuffed Kaito to him, Tou-san's files indicated an accomplice. Kid wasn't only Kid when it came down to it and there were a hundred ways things could be explained.

The bare facts of it: Kid was a showman that specialized in sleight of hand and misdirection just like a magician did. Kid had an eight year gap between his appearances. Kid had been an adult and now Kid was a teenager. Kid was a disguise expert. The Kuroba family were magicians whose sleight of hand were among the best. Kuroba Toichi died eight years ago shortly after Kid the First's final heist. Kuroba Kaito was both skilled enough and in the right age bracket to fit Kid the Second. For both Kid the first and Kid the Second, there were records of unauthorized guns appearing at the scene of heists and suspicious figures. Toichi's death had been a supposed stage accident no one could explain.

Conclusion: Kuroba Kaito was Kaitou Kid the Second and his father had been Kid the First. Kuroba Toichi had probably been murdered. Something had happened that made it necessary for Kid to return.

The conclusions had been ripped off the sheet of paper and burned even though all the facts led to it anyway. It hadn't been the conclusion she wanted. It hadn't been the conclusion she hoped for.

It was a conclusion she wasn't sharing.

Some part of Aoko's mind plotted confrontations and accusations and ways to catch and keep and question Kid. There were other littler ways to test and gain concrete proof, things that involved fish and herself as bait. (Really though, only Kaito would have cared about the clock tower. Only Kaito would be quirky enough to steal a baseball. Only Kaito would be brazen enough to use Aoko's face against her father.) Mostly, Aoko concentrated on acting.

She grew up with Kaito and no one ever thought that she might have picked tricks up from him.

How else did she keep smiling for her dad after her mom died? How else did she manage to blend back into the crowd every time proximity to Kaito made her stand out? How else did she manage to surprise Kaito time and again?

You slipped in enough truth that it wouldn't be questioned, drew attention to the truths that you were okay with showing and made them bigger so that they could hide the more important truths. You believed your lies as far as you could until they felt like truths even when you knew they weren't.

She chased Kaito with brooms and declared her hatred for Kid and kept to script in how she interacted with everyone in her day to day life. No one noticed her watching or her silences.

When Kaito conjured up flowers for her hair and talked about homework, the thought passed through her mind: Who is fooling who?


End file.
